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Report: Vegas rampage suspects talked of 'next Columbine'

John Bacon and William M. Welch, USA TODAY
Published 10:55 a.m. ET June 9, 2014

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Metropolitan Police Department officers hug near a Walmart on June 8 in Las Vegas. Two officers were reported shot and killed by two assailants at a pizza restaurant nearby.(Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images)

A stunned Las Vegas community was trying to make sense Monday of a shooting rampage that left two police officers and three other people dead.

The officers were killed in a lunchtime ambush Sunday by a man and a woman who walked into a CiCi's restaurant shouting "This is a revolution," Sheriff Doug Gillespie said. The duo later killed a third person at a Walmart before exchanging fire with police officers and finally turning weapons on themselves, Gillespie said.

Authorities had not released the names of the alleged shooters Monday. But police cordoned off the Oak Tree Apartments, and some residents told the Las Vegas Sunthe pair lived together there — and had bragged of plans to commit a mass shooting.

"They were handing out white-power propaganda and were talking about doing the next Columbine," neighbor Brandon Moore told the Sun.

Other residents, including Sue Hale, told the Sun the duo had claimed to be at Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch during an April standoff between militia members and federal agents. The duo had professed strong support for Bundy, who had been cited for grazing his cattle on public land without a permit.

"Yap, yap, yap. They were always running their mouths," Hale said of the duo.

Gillespie said the duo walked into the restaurant Sunday and immediately shot Officer Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31. One of the officers was able to return fire, Gillespie said.

The suspects then killed a third person at a nearby Walmart, he said. Police arrived and gunfire was exchanged. Then, "it appears the female suspect shot the male suspect, then took her own life,'' Gillespie said.

Beck, a Las Vegas officer for more than a dozen years, was the married father of three. Soldo, an eight-year veteran of the force, is survived by a wife and baby, police said.

"What precipitated this event we do not know,'' the sheriff said. "My officers were simply having lunch.''

Pauline Pacheco was shopping at Walmart when she saw the armed man and grabbed her father to escape, KLAS-TV reported.

"We saw when the man was walking, he was shouting, yelling bad words, and suddenly he had a gun," she told the station. "It was terrible, it was terrible. That man was crazy."

Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the male suspect yelled "everyone get out" before shooting at Walmart. The suspects then walked to the back of the store, he said.

Gov. Brian Sandoval said he was devastated by the deaths of the two officers and an innocent bystander in an "act of senseless violence."

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman called the killings a "cruel act" and praised the officers for dedicating "their lives to protecting all of us in our community."

Wal-Mart expressed its condolences in a statement and that the company is working with police on the investigation. CiCi's Pizza said in a statement the company was deeply saddened by the shooting and would keep the location closed until further notice.